Authorities in Belgium say a 27th elderly person has died in one coronavirus outbreak in a retirement home of one super-spreading St. Nick party last month, but they hope the situation is now under control.
The Hemelrijck house in the northern Belgian town of Mol had organized a visit on December 4 from a company that played the beloved saint, who usually spreads cheerfulness and presents. But the city and the families of some of the deceased have complained that the nursing home should never have hosted the party when there were event restrictions across the country to contain the pandemic.
The municipality of Mol said “the event was not coordinated with the crisis cell,” and if they had heard about it in advance, they would have stopped it.
The municipality said a 27th person had died.
No one was available for comment at nursing home Hemelrijck on Friday. At last count, the house had 88 infections among residents and 42 among employees.
Lily Lenaerts, whose sister Angele, 85, died first after the outbreak, is upset about the way the nursing home is treating family members.
Photo by ERIC LALMAND / BELGA / AFP via Getty Images
“I still haven’t received a condolence card (from the nursing home) and have been visiting for four years,” she told Het Laatste Nieuws.
Sinterklaas is the traditional day of December 6 to give presents and is much more important for children in Belgium than Santa Claus on December 25, which is mainly a family gathering.
It was initially thought that one of the actors of the St. Nick group was the source of the outbreak, but subsequent investigations could not be completely conclusive.
The eminent virologist of Belgium, Marc Van Ranst, said that it could not be said with 100% certainty that he introduced it in the nursing home. He added “the man was a volunteer in the nursing home and could theoretically have been infected by a resident or a staff member.”
The city said the outbreak was finally stabilizing.
“The health status of the residents has clearly improved,” the city said in a statement.
Belgium, a country of 11.5 million inhabitants, has been badly affected by the pandemic with 19,528 confirmed virus deaths, many of them in nursing homes.